Folding gate.



I. E. HALL.

FOLDING GATE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 13, 1913.

1,091,652. Patented Mar. 31, 1914.

UNTTED STATES PATENT! ()FFICE.

IBVIN E. HALL, OF CORVALLIS, OREGON.

FOLDING GATE.

Application filed May 13, 1913.

To all 10710122, it may concern Be it known that I, InvIN E. I'IALL,citizen of the United States, residing at Corvallis, in the county ofBenton and State of Oregon, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Folding Gates, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to foldable closures which may be employed in agateway opening, a door opening, or the like, and has for one of itsobjects to simplify the construction and improve the efficiency andutility of devices of this character.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simply constructeddevice wherein means are provided for preventing injury to the hands ofthe operator in opening and closing the device.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simply constructeddevice which may be readily adapted without material structural changeto doors, gateway openings or the like of different widths.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simply constructeddevice which may be turned out of the way when not in use so that itdoes not obstruct the doorway opening.

Another object of the invention is to provide a. device of thischaracter so constructed that it will be held at any point of elevationand thus control the size of opening.

\Vith these and other objects in view the invention consists in certainnovel features of construction as hereinafter shown and de scribed andthen specifically pointed out in the claims.

The improved device may be applied to gateway openings, doorwayopenings, or the like, but for the purpose of illustration is shownapplied to a conventional doorway opening to which the device is moreparticularly applicable, and in the drawings thus employed.

Figure l is an elevation of a doorway opening including the frame andeasing with the device in closed position. Fig. 2 is a view similar toFig. 1 showing the improved attachment in open or elevated posit-ion.Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse section 011 the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the samereference characters.

The side members of the door frame are Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 31, 1914.

Serial No. 767,404.

represented conventionally at 1011, sill at 12. and the casings at 13-1l.

The confronting faces of the door frame 10 are formed with rabbets instep-like order as shown, the object to be hereafter explained.

The improved device comprises side members or stiles 16-47 and rails orbars 19 pivoted at their ends to the members 1617 and spaced at uniformdistances apart, one half of the rails being pivoted to the members16-l7 at one side thereof and the other half pivoted to the stiles atthe other side, as shown. One of the stiles, for instance the stile 17,is hingedly connected at 20-21 to the frame 11, the hinges having theirpintles located at some distance from the face of the frame, so thatwhen the member 17 is disposed in open position, as shown in Fig. 2,

the member 17 will be located at some dis tance from the adjacent faceof the frame to leave room for the bars 19 which are attached to theouter face of the member 17. By this means the member 17 is held awayfrom the face of the frame a distance equal to the thickness of the bars19. The stile 16 is designed to bear against the edge of the framemember 10 and within one of the rabbets thereof when the device is inclosed position while the inner rails bear within another of therabbets, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and to prevent the displacement ofthe member 16 catches are arranged upon the inner face of the frame 10to receive the member 16 and hold it in position. These catches are eachformed from a plate of sheet metal, preferably circular, bent intotrough-like shape having sides of unequal width with a short side 22 anda long side 23.

The trough-like catches form seats to receive the stile member 16 of theclosure when the latter is in its downward or closed posit-ion, asrepresented in Figs. 1 and 3, and by forming the inner side of eachcatch wider than the outer side the stile is more readily guided intothe seat, as the rear face of the stile 16 engages against the rearwardwider sides of the catches when partly closed, the wider sides thusforming guides to facilitate the entrance of the stile 16 into its seat.This is an important feature of applicants device and materiallyincreases its efliciency and utility. Attached to one or more of thebars 19 is a stop 25 which engages against the neXt bar above when thedevice is in open position, as represented in Fig. 2, and thus preventsthe bars from closing in close proximity and thus obviates danger ofcatching the fingers of the operator between the bars. This is also animportant feature of applicants device and materially increases itsefiiciency and utility.

The bars 19 are pivoted, as before stated, to the stile members 16 17,the pivots being represented at 26 and formed of screws, rivets or otherlike devices. Surrounding each of the pivots 26 between the bars 19 andthe stile members are washers 27 of leather or like material againstwhich the bars 19 are compressed when the pivots 26 are set up and thusproduce a. sufiicient degree of friction'between the bars and the stilesto retard the movement and cause the device to be retained at any pointto which it is elevated, while at the same time permit its readymovement when a suflicient degree of force is applied. Thus the gatedevice may be partly opened and remain in its partially open posit-ionthrough the friction imparted between the washers and the bars andstiles. This is an important feature of applicants device, and causesthe stile 16 and the bars 19' to be retained intheir elevated positionwithout the necessity of applying catches or other holding means. Byhinging the stile 17 to the door frame the whole device may be turned toone side when in elevated position, and thus be out of the way and formno obstruction to the passage through the doorway opening.

The stile 17 is shorter than the stile 16 so that the lower end of thestile 16 is spaced a considerable distance above the sill 12 to providespace for the broom when sweeping, and thus'facilitate the sweepingoperation.

The improved device will be found of great advantage for partly closingdoorway openings to prevent small children from passing from one room toanother, or from passing through open doors which lead to stairways orthe like. When the device is employed for a doorway opening the bars 19will be provided with surplus openings 28 spaced from the openings forthe pivots 26 so that the device may be readily applied to doors ofdifferent widths. For instance, the device will be constructed for anordinary doorway opening of two feet eight inches wide and the surplusapertures 28 located two inches from the openings for the pivots 26 toaccommodate the bars to a door of two feet six inches wide, or otherdimensions, as may be preferred, and the device will be furnished to thetrade with the bars arranged for doors two feet eight inches wide, andif required, for a door of smaller width, the pivots 26 will be detachedand located in the openings 28, the surplus lengths of the bars beingcut off as required. By this means the utility of the device ismaterially increased.

Havingthus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A device of the class described comprising side members, rails spacedapart and piv' ot'ed at the ends to said side members, elastic elementssurrounding the pivots between the rails and the side members, and meansfor compressing the side members and rails against the elastic elements.

2. A device of the class described comprising side members, rails spacedapart and piv oted at the ends to said side members, a stop carried byone of said rails and engaging against another of the rails when thesame are disposed in elevated position to limit the movement and preventthe rails from engaging against each other.

3. The combination with a supporting frame including side members havingtheir confronting faces each formed into a plurality of rabbets arrangedin step-like order, a closure including side members and connectingrails pivotally united, the side members of the closure engaging in oneset of the rabbets and the ends of the rails engaging another set of therabbets.

4. In a device of the class described, sides and rails spaced apart andpivotally united, one of said sides being shorter than the other sideand adapted to be connected to a support and spaced at its lower endfro-1n the floor to. provide for sweeping beneath the shorter sidemember.

5. The combination with a door frame including the side members and the,sill, of a closure comprising sidemembers and rails spaced apart andpivotally united, one of said closure side members being shorter thanthe other and adapted to be connected to one of the sides of the doorframe and spaced at the lower end from the sill.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

IRVIN E. HALL. [L.S.]

lVitnesses:

MYRTLE BURNAP, E. E. WILSON.

Goplee of thin patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of .Patents, Washington, D. G.

